What price patriotism? During N.F.L. football games, giant scoreboard tableaux of military personnel watching in noble close-up are a familiar, stirring sight. But it turns out some of these patriotic moments, far from a charitable offering by football owners, have been paid for by the Pentagon and National Guard as a “Hometown Hero” recruitment drive.
No one was more furious that taxpayers should ever be paying to see patriotism saluted than Senator John McCain, the Vietnam war hero and chairman of the armed services committee. “It’s really disgraceful that N.F.L. teams whose profits are at an all-time high had to be paid to honor our veterans,” Mr.